(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to controls for cotton gin equipment.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
"Humidaire" is the trademark used for a cotton gin humidifier manufactured by Samuel Jackson Manufacturing Corporation, a corporation controlled by the applicant herein. The Humidaire unit comprises a direct-fired air heater, in which a gas-fired burner operates with an open flame in the stream of air to be humidified, followed by an air washer, in which a recirculated water spray scrubs the heated air, simultaneously cooling the air and evaporating water. The result is a supply of warm humid air of about 38.degree. C. to 60.degree. C. and 80 percent relative humidity.
Customarily, the water pump is operated constantly during operation. To change the output of the humidifier in response to demand, the burner output is increased or decreased to increase or decrease respectively the amount of water evaporated and the amount of humidification achieved in the cotton to which the air is applied. The final control element in this case is a motorized gas valve.
Various automatic controls have been used for humidifiers. Some have sensed moisture content of the humidified cotton indirectly by measuring its resistivity, and others have measured air temperatures. These systems have been rather complex electronic devices.
In order to avoid the complexity of automatic controls, most cotton gin humidifiers are regulated by a remote manual control. The ginner simply turns a potentiometer to adjust the opening of the motorized gas valve.